A Modern Day Hus

I was in a Bishop’s prayer meeting one Thursday morning and I missed a call from sister Maggie Wellert. But she left a message. She said, “I’m calling with my hat as president of the Alumni Association of Moravian Theological Seminary. And I thought to myself, “Oh, the Annual Fund Drive!” Thankfully, I still listened to the whole message, and she went on to tell me that I was the recipient of the John Hus Award. So then I thought to myself, “Isn’t that an award for older people? I mean, my DAD got this award when he was…hmm, about my age!”

I found my father’s remarks from when he received the Hus Award in 1987, type-written. He acknowledges that his work of translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Miskitu “follows closely in the tradition of Jan Hus.” He goes on to say that it was “extremely important for Hus that people hear God’s Word in their own language and understand its true meaning for their lives.” I would add: important for Hus, and important…for us.

When I was a student at Moravian College the first time around, in the early ’70’s (and yes, I mean the nineteen 70’s) one of our favorite comedians was Steve Martin. And I remember that one of my favorite lines was when he said he had just gotten back from France. Then he paused and remarked, “Those French: they have a different word for everything!”

Maybe his observation was less obvious than we might like to think. And maybe learning those different words is part of the ongoing challenge of Hus’s legacy. Because, you see, words and their meanings can change not only from place to place, but also from time to time.

So, for example, in English, in our time, when the church says to the world, “All are welcome,” the world can mistakenly understand us to mean that… “all are welcome.” Now, of course, we all have our ideas concerning the ones who should (and should not) be part of that “all.” In the Moravian Church, with our rich mission heritage, we have been pretty good, I believe, at going into all the world and learning to speak the different languages of many people. But I believe that the church must communicate in the language of the people not just in South Africa and South America and South Asia, but also South Bethlehem. Not just in Eastern Tanzania or Eastern Nicaragua or the Eastern West Indies, but also East Winston, where we sometimes seem to be more hesitant to go.

Are we still communicating in the language of the people? Or are there obstacles to that effective communication?

A Lutheran pastor walked up to the microphone to begin the service in the way that she had always done, but discovered that the mike wasn’t working. So she looked up and said to her congregation, “There’s something wrong with this microphone.” And they responded faithfully, “and also with you.”

What we think we are saying is not always what is being heard. So maybe Hus’s lesson for us is that listening to the language of the people can be as important as speaking it. Or, in my grandmother’s words, “That’s why God gave us two ears but only one mouth–so we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

I came to Moravian Seminary after serving for about 15 years in what might be called (by people who like categories) a more “conservative” part of the Moravian world. (For example, my Bible only had on Isaiah.) Now, did I agree with everything that I was taught or exposed to in Seminary? Of course not. But I learned something extremely important. That is, if we’re going to disagree with someone, let’s make sure that we are disagreeing with what they are actually saying and not with what we think they are saying and not with what we think they are saying or what we assume they will say. Let’s listen and learn their language. Let’s use the tools of Biblical Studies and Pastoral Care and Church History and Leadership and Christian Education and engaging worship to dig deeper into the world and -yes, the world, all around us- exegete the culture in which God has granted us to live and recognize that God might even speak a word for us…through them (whoever they might be).

Listening, learning and communicating the good news in the language of the people of our time and place. It’s not just getting rid of the “thee’s” and “thou’s” or the “he’s” and “him’s” (that’s h-i-m) or, for that matter, replacing the other kind of hymns with more contemporary songs. I’m not talking about watering down the message or selling out to the culture to make it more relevant. I’m talking about communicating the faith, love and hope of our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier in a way that can be heard and owned by people today, and so recognizing that these things are not just for us, but for all the world.

Jan Hus was willing to die for his convictions. I guess the question for us is: Are we willing to live for ours?

I close with my dad’s closing words when he received this award 27 years ago: “Thank you for this award. May God bless all of us who go out from this seminary that in all our varied areas of ministry we may be bound together by one major goal: the proclamation and the spread of the truth of the word of God.” Thank you.

Sam Gray

The Board of Cooperative Ministries looks forward to celebrating the life of John Hus by recognizing the 600th anniversary of his martyrdom through the Comenius Learning Series events beginning this fall through 2015.

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